The feel of the adventure is more like that of an interactive movie, one that has been professionally produced by folk who understand what adventure gamers enjoy-a challenge and appreciation of superb coding.

Fortunately then, good adventures can often age quite well. Especially, that is, when they give you a decent story to follow and an interesting world to interact with. In fact I can think of more adventures from the early 90s worth genuinely recommending than I can flight sims or racing games. To be honest, this one does come close to the limit of how old we'll consider on this site. It does however manage to justify its place, providing you can live with the creaky EGA exterior. It's a well-crafted and absorbing piece of interactive storytelling, that for me stands out from the rest of the Sierra bunch.

Overall, though some of its design choices – mainly the arcade sequences and the rushed ending – are certainly objectionable, Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail is otherwise a very enjoyable title, with an engaging plot, a charming, intelligent script and a wonderful (for the time, of course) graphic design. The game even runs just fine on modern machines with the aid of DOSBox, so every adventurer should give it a try, because it’s truly a little gem and one of the most underrated of Sierra’s classic games.

One of only two Sierra games made by author Christy Marx, this was an effective adventure set in the age of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. While Marx's penchant for making love triangles in her stories leads to a lackluster finale (the Queen's affair with Lancelot is the last picture seen...???), the game still had many classic characters of Arthurian Legend, each leading to an admirable puzzle.

The graphics and music are tolerable but you must remember that Conquests of Camelot is a pretty old game. There are no voices, and conversations and descriptions appear in pop up text boxes. I remember that Conquests of Camelot was reasonably well received in its time but ultimately has proved less enduring than other Sierra games such as King's Quest, for instance, and deservedly so. This game doesn't capture that same sense of fun and fantasy quite so well. It may be hard to find now, but if you can find it then you can experience a bit of adventure gaming history.

Essentially then, Camelot is a game
more for the beginning adventure gamer,
rather than the experienced one. Those
who prefer adventures requiring some
heavy mental effort will probably want to
skip this one.